


Tonight

by Desdimonda



Category: StarCraft
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 05:32:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5731234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desdimonda/pseuds/Desdimonda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the eve before battle, before they take Aiur, Artanis cannot sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tonight

Artanis touched the window, cold, brisk beneath his warm skin. His claws tapped against the glass and they were the only sound within the bridge. All others slept, rest or prepared for tomorrow.

For tomorrow, they would take Aiur.

He expected to be filled with joy, with nervous trepidation of what tomorrow might bring, but all he felt was fear. And that fear hung upon him like the weight of all that it had taken to get here. All the lives that were lost, the homes destroyed, the tempestuous alliances forged; and all in the name of Aiur - for home.

The silence of his fear paralysed him, and he could not leave the bridge, he could not take his eyes off the shimmering blue planet that he would step upon once again. He hoped his steps would not be his last and that he was not leading his people to their death. For all of them followed him, believed in him, trusted in him.

Heirarch Artanis.

He sighed, turning away from the window, dragging his claws against the cool glass. It was times like this when he missed the Khala the most. For silence was louder that a thousand words, than a thousand thoughts.

The door hissed open, and in stepped the only person he was happy to see. 

Alarak.

“You need rest, Artanis. The entirety of the Spear of Adun rests but you,” he said as he walked towards the Heirarch, his bare arms folded over his equally bare chest. He had just risen from bed; Artanis could feel the presence of sleep wane from his aura, the fringes of it still lingering like a haze that enticed Artanis, drawing him closer to his lover.

“All but you,” said Artanis as he walked towards his lover, reaching out for his comforting hold. But, as always, Alarak stood rigid, his arms closed. “There is no-one here,” said Artanis, wounded. “All I seek is comfort on the eve of battle - and you-”

Alarak raised a hand and stalled his words, a finely tipped claw lifting one of the Heirarch’s braids. “Tomorrow might be our end. Or it might be yours, or mine,” he said slowly, letting Artanis’s braid drop to his shoulder. “I cannot fill your heart with promises that might not be kept.”

“Do you think I care for that at this moment? I need - I need comfort. I need you,” said Artanis, closing the distance between them, so that they were but a breath apart.

“I know you well, Artanis. You cannot take a step - you will run a thousand light years,” said Alarak, gliding a finger down Artanis’s cheek. The Heirarch reached up to cup his lover’s face; Alarak let him.

“Is that so wrong?”

Alarak stared into Artanis’s blue eyes, flickering with the swell of his aura. He could tell he wanted more than simple comfort. “I cannot give you what you want.”

“And how do you know what I want?” challenged Artanis, drawing his thumbs beneath Alarak’s red eyes.

Alarak smirked. “You are not difficult to read, Artanis. I look at you…and I know.”

“Why?” said Artanis.

“We are…different- our people -”

Artanis shook his head and leant in close to Alarak, touching crests, passionately, silencing his broken words. “No more words. Let us just…be.”

The Highlord sighed, melding into Artanis’s touch, tilting his head into the nuzzle, closing his red eyes as he arched his back, unable to control his body’s answer. Artanis splayed a hand over Alarak’s bare back, dipping him back, just a little. 

The air shimmered with their psionics as they wove together, pushing everything away, but them. Their crests changed colour in unison, from pink, to a swathe of deep red. Artanis drew in a shuddering breath. “Just for tonight,” he whispered. “Just let us be.”

Alarak sighed, sliding a hand around his lovers neck, his clawed fingers gripping his severed cords.

“Just for tonight.”


End file.
